Chapter 58 Contrast

Sui Yan rubbed Duan Mingchong's warm palm greedily for a while before he suddenly came to his senses.

The hand that was holding Duan Mingchong's hand suddenly froze, and he looked up at him with difficulty.

Duan Mingchong looked at him while holding back his smile; his face did not show the disgust and alienation that he had imagined.

Sui Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He gently put down Duan Mingchong's hand and said hesitantly, "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I was so angry just now."

Duan Mingchong smiled and said, "Nothing, did Doctor Jun do something to offend you again?"

Sui Yan gnashed his teeth in hatred, and just wanted to get back at Jun Jingxing and beat him up. He didn't say anything to Duan Mingchong, and he didn't know how to start the conversation. No matter what he said, he would be embarrassed. He could only say, "No, I just wanted to discuss something with him. It's not that important."

Duan Mingchong knew that what he said was a lie when he saw that he was so angry that he almost jumped up and down. Seeing that he was unwilling to say it, he was considerate and did not mention it again.

Sui Yan asked, "Why did His Highness come to the Marquis' Mansion today?"

Duan Mingchong said: "I just came to convey the emperor's order on behalf of my father, and to congratulate the generals on the new year. I thought of coming to see you. You seemed to be..."

Sui Yan immediately said, "Don't mention yesterday, don't mention it! Your Highness, please don't mention it!"

Duan Mingchong: "..."

Duan Mingchong blinked his eyes: "What?"

Sui Yan said painfully, "Don't mention it. Don't ask anything. I invite you to come to my hospital for a drink. Doctor Jun brewed a few jars of peach blossom wine a few years ago. I'll dig it out for you to taste. I guarantee it tastes different from the wine in the palace."

Duan Ming Chong asked curiously, "Doctor Jun's wine? Did he let you dig it out?"

Sui Yan: "Who cares if he dies? Come on, plant it under the cherry tree in my yard. I'll have someone bring a shovel right now - Begonia? Begonia!"

Duan Mingchong: "..."

Duan Mingchong failed to hold him back, and Sui Yan ran out like the wind. After a while, he and Haitang came back excitedly, holding an iron shovel.

Duan Mingchong: "Ayan..."

As soon as he called out the name, Sui Yan grabbed his hand and ran quickly towards the yard.

Duan Mingchong was pulled by him to jog all the way, and finally stopped under a bare cherry tree.

Sui Yan and Hai Tang had also used a ladder to hang palm-sized red lanterns on the cherry tree, with small red tassels hanging from the bottom. It looked very festive.

Sui Yan slightly raised his head to look at the cherry tree, and ran around the tree for half a circle before he determined the location. He tilted his head slightly and smiled at Duan Mingchong: "Your Highness, come quickly, it's right here!"

The young man's smile was unrestrained and he stood in a sea of ​​red, which stunned Duan Mingchong for a moment.

"Your Highness?"

Duan Mingchong finally came to his senses and walked over somewhat at a loss, lowering his eyes to hide his inexplicable panic and the throbbing in his heart: "Here I am."

Sui Yan and Hai Tang carried shovels and dug a deep hole under the cherry tree. Duan Mingchong watched from the side, but he was quite absent-minded.

Haitang suddenly said, "Master, the shovel seems to have hit something."

Sui Yan squatted beside the pit and said hurriedly: "Dig it out!"

Haitang and Jun Jingxing were used to each other, and she also liked this miracle doctor who was the only one who could control her young master. He said hesitantly, "Young master, this was specially brewed and buried by Master Jun. It looks very precious. You just dug up his wine without even saying hello, right..."

Isn’t that a bit unfair?

Sui Yan heard what he had to say and sneered, "Why didn't he think about whether it was honest or not when he passed on the false news to me? Stop talking nonsense and dig it for me. I just dug out a pot of wine to taste it and entertain guests. What's wrong with that? Is he so stingy?"

No one could refute Sui Yan's righteous and perverse logic. Haitang didn't dare to say anything more. She let out an "ah" and exerted force with her hands to shovel away some of the soil, revealing a wine altar.

Sui Yan pointed: "That's it! That's it, give it to me."

Haitang was covered in dirt, but she picked up the wine jar without any hesitation and said, "It's all muddy, be careful not to dirty your clothes. I'll find something to wipe it clean and then bring it to your room."

Sui Yan was still very confident about Hai Tang. He stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes: "Okay, go quickly and come back soon."

Haitang ran away like a rabbit holding the wine.

Sui Yan then turned around and said, "Your Highness, let's go inside first... Your Highness?"

Sui Yan called him several times before Duan Mingchong came back to his senses: "I'm here, what's wrong?"

Sui Yan rarely saw Duan Mingchong absent-minded for no reason. He was stunned for a moment before saying, "I just said to go inside."

Duan Mingchong nodded: "Okay."

The two entered Sui Yan's room. There was a faint soothing fragrance in the room. The window was half open, and one could see the blooming white plum blossoms outside the window.

Sui Yan invited Duan Mingchong to sit down. After a while, Haitang brought a small stove aside and warmed the wine on it. Soon, the wine began to boil.

Sui Yan poured a glass for Duan Mingchong and passed it to him, saying as if he were presenting a treasure: "Your Highness, please have a taste."

In the previous life, when Yue Jian had nothing to do, she would brew wine for him to drink. However, Sui Wanggui was not in good health at that time, and even if he could drink, he could only drink some mild peach blossom wine or medicinal wine. He could forget about drinking anything stronger.

Duan Mingchong took the cup, took a sip, and chuckled, "It's really good."

Sui Yan narrowed his eyes with great pride, as if he was praising himself.

Duan Mingchong drank a cup slowly, and when he saw Sui Yan had no intention of drinking, he asked in confusion, "Don't you want to try it?"

Sui Yan shook his head: "I can't drink."

Duan Mingchong was stunned: "What?"

Three years ago, at the palace's New Year's Eve banquet, I seemed to have seen Sui Yan drinking, but since then, it seems that Sui Yan has never touched it.

Sui Yan pursed his lips, glanced at the boiling wine, and said after a long while: "I liked it at first, but later I would vomit after drinking it, and my throat hurts."

Duan Mingchong's hands froze.

Sui Yan saw Duan Mingchong's face suddenly darken, and realized that he might have misunderstood something, and hurriedly said, "No, no, it's not that there's something wrong with this wine, it's purely my own problem."

Duan Mingchong saw that his explanation became more and more confused, and his eyes suddenly dimmed.

It suddenly occurred to him.

Strictly speaking, Sui Yan stopped drinking after attending a birthday banquet.

Because that day, he drank a glass of poisoned wine.

Duan Mingchong only felt that his heart, which had been beating wildly just now, suddenly sank to the bottom and hit his chest, causing some pain.

In a trance, he seemed to say something when Siu Yan had a drug addiction before staying in the East Palace.

"It hurts so much."

"Your Highness, please don't drink."

Three years have passed, and those painful whispers still ring in my ears.

Duan Mingchong suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart, so painful that he could hardly breathe.

His body swayed slightly, and some of the wine in his hand spilled onto the hem of his clothes.

Sui Yan was startled: "Your Highness! Are you okay?"

He hurriedly snatched the cup from Duan Mingchong's hand, rolled up his sleeves and wiped the wine off Duan Mingchong's clothes.

Sui Yan originally just felt that Duan Mingchong was too difficult to conquer, so he wanted to act pitiful and let him love him more. It would be best if he could stay in the East Palace for a while to avoid Sui Xun's attacks of urging him to get married.

But he didn't expect that Duan Mingchong would be so stimulated by just one sentence from him, and he didn't know what he was thinking about.

Duan Mingchong put one hand on his chest, took a deep breath, and forced a smile: "It's okay, probably the alcohol went to my head, it will be fine in a while."

Sui Yan asked worriedly, "But you're pale, is it really all right?"

Duan Mingchong said with difficulty: "No, really not, just take a rest for a while."

Sui Yan saw that he didn't want to talk, so he ignored his words and didn't ask any more questions. He asked Haitang to take the wine away and sat with Duan Mingchong for a while. Only then did Duan Mingchong look much better.

The more Duan Mingchong saw how thin Sui Yan was, the more guilty he felt, but he didn't know how to make amends.

"It was my fault that I was too indecisive when I was young and was framed. Justice is clear, and it should be me who should be punished." Duan Ming Chong thought, "He is the most innocent..."

The most innocent person was dragged into the royal dispute by accident and became the most tragic victim.

Duan Mingchong recalled the emperor's teachings to him since he was a child - be friendly to your brothers and respectful to your younger brothers.

Duan Mingchong thought coldly, I am a friendly and respectful brother to my younger brother, but how do they treat me?

Sui Yan saw that Duan Mingchong's face was getting uglier and uglier. While scolding himself for making trouble, he said carefully: "Your Highness, your clothes are all wet. Why don't you change your clothes? It's not good to catch a cold."

Duan Mingchong slowly came back to his senses. He felt a little weak all over. He didn't even want to pretend to have that gentle smile that he usually had. He said in a hoarse voice, "Okay."

Sui Yan led Duan Mingchong to the inner room, and after rummaging in the closet, he finally found a set of new dark-colored clothes that had just been delivered a few days ago. He didn't like wearing black, always thinking it was too gloomy, so he stuffed it directly to the bottom of the closet, originally planning not to wear it again, but he didn't expect that it would come in handy this time.

Duan Mingchong stood in front of the screen, absent-mindedly untied the jade pendant on his belt and hung it on the edge of the screen.

By the time Sui Yan ran out with the clothes in his hands, Duan Mingchong had already taken off his outer robe and was standing there in only his middle garment, looking unusually dazed.

Sui Yan's hands trembled and he almost dropped the clothes in his hands.

Sui Yan had only seen Duan Mingchong's sleeping appearance three years ago. They were both still young at that time. Sui Yan quietly touched Duan Mingchong's waist, and at that time he felt that it was soft, thin and especially nice to touch.

Since then, he no longer had such good fortune, because every time he met Duan Mingchong, he would wrap himself tightly in a robe, and even in summer he rarely wore thin clothes - this made Sui Yan very regretful.

By this calculation, this was the first time in three years that Sui Yan saw Duan Mingchong wearing thin clothes.

Now he just took one look and wanted to cover his face and cry.

No one knew how Duan Mingchong had grown in the past few years. He was half a head taller than Sui Yan, but now that he had taken off his coat, his figure was even more exaggerated than Sui Yan's, with broad shoulders, narrow waist and long legs. It was exactly the figure that Sui Yan had always dreamed of.

Duan Mingchong suddenly realized that he was not in the East Palace. He lowered his eyes in embarrassment, his ears turned red, and whispered: "Ayan...clothes, clothes..."

Sui Yan's eyes turned red with envy, and he handed the clothes over tremblingly.

Duan Mingchong took it and put it on himself in a hurry.

Sui Yan had no idea how to wear the new clothes, and Duan Mingchong was flustered and confused. He fiddled with it for a long time but still didn't know how to tie the belt.

Sui Yan's eyes were slightly red, and he whispered, "Your Highness, let me help you."

Duan Mingchong felt that it would be even more awkward if he continued like this, so he just nodded.

Sui Yan walked over and stood beside Duan Mingchong. A faint green scent of sandalwood filled his face. He placed his shaking hands on the clothes on Duan Mingchong's shoulders and touched Duan Mingchong's shoulders inconspicuously.

Sui Yan cried in his heart: "The arms are so strong! It looks like they are not from clothes."

Duan Mingchong: "..."

Duan Mingchong felt uncomfortable when he was touched, but he didn't want to hide, so he had to stay where he was with red ears, allowing Sui Yan to touch his arm.

Sui Yan touched for a while, then changed his target, adjusted his clothes randomly, and then placed his hand on the belt around his waist.

Suddenly, he touched it again.

Duan Mingchong: "..."

Sui Yan felt the powerful muscles under his palms, and then compared them with the soft flesh on his waist, and almost cried out loud.